1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tag pin attacher, and, more particularly, to a tag pin attacher which can be used to attach tag pins to apparel, shoes, etc. without regard to the length or the diameter of a needle of the tag pin attacher and which can be charged with a string of tag pins of a narrow pitch.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A tag pin attacher is used to attach a tag pin T shown in FIG. 8A to apparel or shoes, etc. (collectively apparel) A tag pin T consists of a head H by which a tag (not shown) is suspended, a rod R extended from the head H, and an anchor S formed at an end of the rod perpendicular thereto. FIG. 8B illustrates a string of tag pins formed by injection molding, which includes a plurality of tag pins integrally formed on a base D with cutting portions C bridging the tag pins and the base.
A tag pin attacher has a hollow needle for inserting the tag pins into the apparel. A user penetrates an object of apparel with the hollow needle via a hole provided on a tag and pulls a trigger on the tag pin attacher to suspend the tag from the apparel by the tag pin. That is, by pulling the trigger, the anchor S of the tag pin T is extruded through the hollow needle, and the object and the tag become interposed between the anchor S and the head H of the tag pin T. The cutting portion C of the tag pin T is cut by a cutter provided on the hollow needle while the anchor S is extruded through the hollow needle, thus separating the tag pin from the base D.
A conventional tag pin attacher for suspending a tag pin from a object as described above includes a charge mechanism for feeding, pitch by pitch, the tag pin to a position where the tag pin is extruded by hooking and pulling the tag pin at the cutting part C, an extrusion mechanism for axially pushing the anchor of the tag pin and for extruding the same through the hollow needle, and a trigger mechanism for operating the extrusion mechanism.
Conventional feed mechanisms are divided into sprocket types and hook types.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,589, issued to the present applicant, discloses a sprocket type feed mechanism which it has a simple structure by which the tag pins are fed well. However, in this device, the pitch of the sprocket must correspond to intervals of the tag pins arranged on the base.
As a result, a base of a limited length may only have a limited number of tag pins because, as illustrated in FIG. 8B, the tag pins are arranged on the base D and, thus, a limitation on the length of the base D and the intervals of the tag pins restricts the number of tag pins on the base D.
While it is possible to form 80 to 100 numbers of tag pins on one base, the base of the string of tag pins for use in sprocket type feed mechanism devices cannot exceed 50 normally so that the user must change the strings of tag pins frequently.
Hook type feed mechanisms are advantageous in that a tag pin attacher having this mechanism can be charged with a string of tag pins of narrow pitch.
Among the hook type feed mechanisms are those in which the tag pins are fed by a two-stepped movement, i.e., an upward-downward movement of the hook, and those in which the tag pins are fed by a four-stepped movement, i.e., a forward-downward-backward-upward movement of the hook. The former, the two-stepped, is advantageous in that it can be performed by a tag pin attacher having a simple structure. However, on occasion, the tag pin may be disengaged during downward movement of the hook. Accordingly, the latter, the four-stepped typed, is desirable, but requiring complicated structure.
Also, a long and thick hollow needle of 1.1 mm diameter is used for a thick object such as pelt or thick woven fabric, and a short and fine hollow needle of 0.8 mm diameter is used for a soft and thin fabric such as silk. The stroke of the extrusion mechanism must be changed according to the length of the hollow needle, and conventional tag pin attachers are not equipped to handle this requirement. Hence, different tag pin attachers are required for needles of different lengths.